Open Houses: http://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/education/educator-programs/open-houses: http://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/education/educator-programs/open-houses"Join educators at the Heinz History Center on September 28 for food, drinks, and information on National History Day and the center's educational offerings." This is in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution.

​Classroom Vidoeconferences: ﻿﻿﻿﻿http://americanart.si.edu/education/video/﻿﻿﻿﻿"Bring American art to your classroom with a series of ten interactive (and free) videoconference lessons from the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The sessions are enjoyable for everyone from third grade to adulthood."

Icebreakers Volume 3: Engaging Activities for the First Day of School: http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/icebreakers_for_kids.shtml​I am very careful that all activities in my classroom have a purpose, even those that I choose to do on the first day. I don't want to give the impression that we will be wasting class time. Most of the activities at this link meet one or more of my objectives for the class at the beginning of the year. There are links to additional volumes of icebreakers at the end of the article.

Setting the Tone: http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/columnists/mcdonald/mcdonald027.shtml​This short article has concrete advise about setting the tone for the classroom on the first day of school. The only thing that I can add is that is important to remember that the first impression may occur in the parking lot or even as students see the teacher setting up the room for the school year.

Path and Visibility - August 21, 2017, 2017 Total Solar Eclipse: https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/globe/2017-august-21#​The maps at this site show the how the solar eclipse will look around the world. You get to choose the places and look at the map in 2-D or 3-D. The site also has Eclipse Information, Trivia, First and Last places to see the eclipse, as well as other information including Media & Videos

University of Pennsylvania program helps students with disabilities: http://thenotebook.org/articles/2017/08/04/university-of-pennsylvania-program-helps-students-with-disabilities​This sounds like a marvelous program that may change a number of lives. Students in the graduate education program have experience working with high school students who have cognitive disabilities. It is easy to see how this program helps the graduate students, the high school students and their families. I think it might also help the community in general as members of the community, such as store employees, have the opportunity to see how the graduate students interact with the high school students.

What We Still Don't Know About Digital Reading: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2017/08/what_we_dont_know_digital_reading_literacy.htmlThere is not a commonly agreed upon definition of digital reading and there are more questions than answers when reviewing studies about the advantages and disadvantages of digital reading. Since reading some type of material online is becoming more common, a review of benefits and drawbacks of reading from printed material and digital material for individual students is necessary.